#France opens beach-side coronavirus testing sites in tourist areas

France has opened beachside coronavirus testing sites in tourist areas amid fears over a second wave sweeping across Europe.

It comes as both Britain and Germany shutdown holiday travel to Spain as the nation saw a significant rise in the number of coronavirus cases.

Medics offering nasal swab tests are now appearing at busy locations in France including beaches, parks and train stations.

Extra testing services are also being rolled out at airports in a bid to keep tabs on a potential rise in cases.

Bars and beaches were also placed under curfew in Brittany after 19 new cases were reported last week in Quiberon.

France is connected to the UK by an air bridge, meaning tourists can go on holiday and not face a two week quarantine when they return home.

Spain also was connected in this way, before the Government dramatically knocked away the bridge – leaving 600,000 Brits facing a fortnight in isolation.

The Foreign Office have warned all of the special travel corridors are now at risk – as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there are “signs of a second wave” in Europe.

British officials are said to be closely watching rises in coroanvirus cases in France – along with Germany, which is also warned to be facing a second wave.

France has not seen as a dramatic an increase in cases as Spain has, but the figures have been creeping up.

It hit a low of 81 cases on June 24, but this week France has seen more than thousand cases a day for four consecutive days for the first time since April.

July 23, 24, 25 and 26 all saw the worrying figures, before the numbers dipped again to just 517 on July 27.

Spain meanwhile has seen over 2,000 cases a day since July 23, and over 1,000 cases a day since July 15, from lows of 167 on June 8.

The PM warned: “What we have to do is take swift and decisive action where we think that the risks are starting to bubble up again.

“Let’s be absolutely clear about what’s happening in Europe, amongst some of our European friends, I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic.”

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has also warned more countries could be axed from the UK’s safe travel list at very short notice.

Speakingon Sky, he said: “As we’ve found with Spain, we can’t give a guarantee.”

He added: “I’m not going to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do.

“They should follow the advice. I’m going to be staying at home this summer.”

France lamented the situation as cases surge across the continent, saying there has been a “clear increase” since the lifting of lockdown and progress has been “erased”.

The health ministry said: “We have returned to levels comparable with those at the end of the lockdown period.

“We have thus erased a good part of the progress made during the initial weeks since the lockdown was lifted.

“It’s more essential than ever to reimpose our collective discipline.”

And meanwhile Germany is also bracing itself for a second wave as one official warned the coronavirus was already back.

Germany’s daily case count hit 818 on Friday, its highest number since June 17.

The R rate – which estimates how many people one person with coronavirus infects – was up to 1.16 in Germany over the past week.

Health chief Lothar Wieler said: “We must prevent that the virus once again spreads rapidly and uncontrollably.”

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty addressed Cabinet’s “Covid-O” committee and called for Spain to be added to the quarantine list.

The “clincher” that convinced senior ministers to introduce the quarantine was when they were told that 10 Brits had tested positive for the bug since July 1 after visiting Spain.

Prof Whitty said the number was “statistically significant” and that Covid-19 cases in Spain had jumped by 75 percent.

“It was a small number but it was statistically significant enough to cause concern,” a source who was briefed on the meeting told the Telegraph.

Majorca, Ibiza and Canary Islands are bidding to be excluded from the two-week Spain quarantine as they hope to continue welcoming back tourists.

Junior Health Minister Helen Whatley said: “For some of the islands, the rates are indeed going up, also there is some movement of travel between the islands and the mainland, so we had to do a clear policy that would best protect the United Kingdom.”

European nations had been hopeful of reopening after being ravaged by the virus in March and April as the epicenter of the pandemic shifted to South America and the US.

EU chiefs last week announced a colossal coronavirus stimulus plan worth more than $866 billion after four nights of talks.